Adjuster

Claimant dreams of insurance-derived wealth can complicate the most simple of claims. It may not be in my own interest to view such dreams with a critical eye, since the carrier’s need for an adjuster in the field Is a common result of an inconsistency between facts and demands.

Trucking accidents seem to generate a disproportionate number of such claimants and so I have dealt with more than a few. In this particular case our insured was clearly liable – he was rolling to a stop at a red light and failed to stop before rear-ending the claimant. The result was minor damage to the rear bumper of claimant’s pickup truck. At the scene the claimant does not seek medical attention or complain of injury.

I am an after-hours truck adjuster for David Morse & Associates (DMA). A successful truck adjuster makes life easier for the examiner and company assigning – and that means making settlement possible at the earliest possible juncture. If he or she can do that, there will be plenty of work assigned.

This is the story of a routine assignment that came in very early on a Tuesday morning – nothing spectacular, but a demonstration of effective adjusting that supports rapid file closure. We got to the scene (not always easy in Southern California on a weekday morning). Our driver and his damaged rig were on the shoulder, having rear-ended another big rig when traffic stopped suddenly. We waited for a wrecker to arrive and tow the equipment away. I then gave the driver a ride to his company’s yard.

The hard part about produce salvage after a truck spill on the freeway isn’t the sorting and moving of the material. Not if you have the manpower. And the hard part is not getting the manpower to the scene in the required 30- 45 minute time frame. Not if you know who to call. The hard part is not the drivers on that stretch of freeway – even California’s craziest motorists brake for several tons of cantaloupes. Continue reading →

Getting an eighteen-wheeler through Manhattan presents its own unique set of challenges.Sometimes the challenges come out on top and we get a claim.

This one of our first claims from a client we have since done a lot of business with. Our driver had a 38-foot trailer on the tiny streets of lower Manhattan. In the process of making a right onto a street that would give a motorcycle trouble, his right rear wheels met the rear bumper of a soon-to be-very-compact car. Someone was not paying attention to the “wide turns” sign on the truck’s rear doors. The wheels did not stop at the bumper, or the trunk, or the roof. They rolled right over the car. Our driver thinking that the curb was a bit high, carried on down the street at a slow pace. Continue reading →